Nairi Zarian

, a contemporary of Charents, Mahari, and Pagounts was, like Mahari, a native of Van. After the massacres he spent his childhood in Yerevan orphanages. He continued his education at the Yerevan State University, graduating in 1927. After four years of editorial work he attended (1931 to 1933); the University of Leningrad. Then in Yerevan he became secretary of the Writers’ Union. He published novels and plays in addition to several books of poetry.

Zarian was a tragic figure and may be called the last victim of the era of Stalin’s cult of personality. All his life rumors circulated, neither proved nor completely disproved, accusing him of betraying fellow writers to the secret police. Ironically, his article, “The Dark Legend,” which he felt would clear his name, was not published until the year of his death, and it was published in the Diaspora, in Beirut’s Naiyiri Magazine.